Chapter 37

Nina returns home for another night, not knowing what to do. She felt cornered by fate.

He remembered his daughter's face, who, despite being ill, tried hard to smile at her mother. She also tried hard to smile at the girl and play with her until she fell asleep, but as soon as she left the hospital, her expression changed to one of despair.

Nina looks in the mailbox and finds a letter addressed to her. She finds it strange, but opens the envelope and the contents scare her even more.

The letter informed that a finance company had purchased the debt and obtained judicial authorization to recover the property to cover the debt.

Nina sits on the couch, her hands shaking. She was not worrying at that moment about the debt she owed to the bank, as she had been informed that the bank would only repossess the property in a few years if she did not pay the debt.

However, this finance company gave him a period of one month to leave the property.

She gets up and looks around, bewildered. She couldn't lose that house, that property was left to her by her father. That place was full of happy memories, of her childhood, of her father, of Hannah... That place wasn't just a property, that place was her home.

She immediately calls her mother, letting her know what happened.

Célia also didn't know what to do, she currently practically lived at her job, the hospital, but if they lost their house, they would have nowhere to go when Hannah recovered.

The two were so broke financially that at that moment, this news was like a hole opening right under their feet.

Nina hangs up the phone and feels her heart speed up. She thinks about the possibilities, but she didn't have many options.

Nina opens her phone's calendar and looks at each contact, wondering if that person could help her. She stops upon Dominic's contact. She thinks about how rich he was and that maybe it would be easy for him to help her. She remembers Richard telling her that he possibly had some interest in her.

But then she remembers the party, she remembers Rosália trying to humiliate her in front of everyone, she remembers her saying that she was Dominic's mother.

Remember everything that happened at Kira's hands...

Nina could even approach him out of interest, but she wasn't sure about the consequences of this action. If she asked, maybe things would get even worse if she did.

Therefore, she gives up on Dominic's contact and continues looking, until she finds the contact from the strip club.

She swallows hard, thinking that taking off her clothes in front of strangers would be more humiliating than accepting to be used by Dominic, but at the club, she didn't have as many insecurities about her future as she did with Dominic. Staying with Dominic could mean that she would become involved with Samuel's family again.

…

The next day Dominic kept an eye on his cell phone. He expected that at any moment Nina would get in touch, asking for her job back. He knew it was a bit cruel to take away her house, but he thought everything would be resolved when she returned. He wanted her intensely and now that he hadn't seen her for days, that desire was stronger than before.

He didn't want to go after her, but the desire to see her again forced him to make a radical decision, without knowing that perhaps he was forcing her to make an extreme decision too.

…

Jared was also paying attention that day, but it wasn't on Nina. He went into the bookstore where Júlia worked and pretended to be looking for a book. She even helped him, as one would help any other client.

Jared picked up some books, none specific, and when he went to pay, he pretended he had forgotten his card. Therefore, he asked Júlia what time he would leave work, as he would like to buy the books with her and would come back that day to buy them.

Julia, falling into the trap, told Jared her schedule without suspecting it.

He left and at dusk, he didn't return. Júlia regretted losing the sale, but she couldn't do anything if the customer didn't return.

She said goodbye to her coworkers and walked normally through the streets.

She didn't look around and didn't suspect that she might be being followed. Júlia, because of her weight, never thought that she could be the target of a stalker, she was used to being seen as just another fat girl that no one cares about.

She passed by a candy store and bought two donuts. She ate the chocolate one and saved the strawberry one to take to Nina.

Afterwards, he sat on the bench at the bus stop and waited for the vehicle to arrive. That day, she had left her car at home, as it needed repairs and she didn't want to spend money on a mechanic. She was determined to help Nina pay off her hospital debt.

She hears the police car's siren and a speeding car passes her, followed by the police car, going the wrong way.

She looks scared and a car that was parked on the sidewalk catches her attention. Júlia looked carefully at the empty vehicle, however, she was sure for a few moments that she had seen the customer who was supposed to buy the books with her and didn't show up.

Júlia continues to look, until there is the sound of her bus engine and at that moment she gets up and gets into the vehicle immediately.

Jared, seeing the vehicle moving away, stands up and takes a deep breath. It almost wasn't discovered. He starts the car and follows the bus that Júlia was on until he realizes that he was passing through the same places he passed when following Nina to the cafeteria.

He suspects that Júlia would get off at the same diner and find Nina there, however, the bus passes directly by the diner, but turns onto the next street and then stops.

Jared watches Julia enter the hospital and in that moment he puts all the pieces together.

Jared smiled and tapped the steering wheel, saying:

— Nina Moon, you're a smart girl, but today will be the day I discover what you've been hiding so much.